First broccoli and some more artichokes!

Current garden count:

4 gallon bags of lettuce -- 2 Monday, 2 today
40-50 sugar snap/snow peas
30 strawberries
3 artichokes
3 green onions

First, the good news -- the lettuce is still going strong and not showing any signs of bolting yet. We had a spell of cooler weather from Friday of last week through now -- still sunshine most days, but interspersed with some rain and coolness as well, which seems to have helped to keep the bolting at bay. The lettuce is producing well -- evidenced by the above -- and the romaine is really starting to develop the full, oblong heads which are their trademark. The spotted romaine is producing madly -- every day when I go out to pick it looks thicker and leafier than it did the day before!

The peas are on the same burgeoning path as the lettuce. Every day when I go out, I see more peas to pick. It's as if they grow overnight from a pod the size of my pinky to ones about 4-6" long. I staked the mammoths better last weekend, so it's a little easier to see the smaller peas, but I suspect the smaller peas are never going to produce very well, since their much larger relative seems to have taken over most of the garden space! At least getting them staked better means that we can actually see the corn plants and they're getting a little more light than they were!

All the beans seem to be up now, and heading toward the light. The cucumbers have some minor issue that involves a white streak on the stem, but for most of them it doesn't seem to be impacting them unduly. The one sad little one looks like it may give up the ghost, though. I sprayed with an essential oil anti-fungal treatment, and gave them some more worm tea this weekend, so we'll see how that works. The squashes are recovering nicely from whatever was ailing them previously, I think thanks primarily to a liberal weekly dosing of worm tea. The first broccoli crown is about ready for picking, and looks to be followed shortly by the first bunch from the purple sprouting broccoli.

Potatoes are flowering; artichokes are growing at a rate that makes me start looking for recipes for marinated artichokes . . . tomatoes are setting rapidly. The yellow tomato Taxi has 5 tomatoes set now; Speckled Romas have one tomato each; two of the cherries have about 5 tomatoes each. Haven't looked too closely at the rest yet. Beets are beginning (barely) to come up. Peppers are flowering. Mustard has thoroughly bolted -- about time to pull it out and drop some rutabagas in its place. Once the lettuce bolts, I'll plant rutabagas and brussels sprouts in its place.

I finally got around to putting something in the front flower beds. I bought four perennials this weekend -- a pink hydrangea, blue and white mixed delphinium, purple/white penstemon, pink bearded tongue, lavender/pink pincushion flower, lavender, pink cranesbill (true geranium) and veronica (speedwell). My color theme is apparently purple, blue, and pink . . . The intent is to also plant some annual seeds and a few perennial seeds (columbine and coreopsis). We'll see if I manage to get them in the ground!